75 tonnes of spurious drugs set alight in Kabul

KABUL (Pajhwok): Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) officials on Tuesday torched around 75 tonnes of expired and low quality medicines in the Khak-i-Jabbar district of Kabul.

The drugs had been seized from medical stores over the past one and a half months in cooperation with officials from the Directorate of Pharmacy and the private sector, Public Health Minister Firozuddin Feroz told reporters in Kabul.

The minister did not say if any arrests were made in connection with the seizure, but warned officials would continue raiding medical stores in search of expired drugs.

“Expired drugs are still available in the market despite our efforts to do away with them,” the minister acknowledged.

Substandard and expired drugs are smuggled from Pakistan and Iran to Afghanistan due to a weak control over borders.